Learning To Live Rather Than Run From Death
by Lucillia
Summary: After an attack on Hogwarts fails to be prevented and the students are sent off for their safety, Tom meets a girl named Nancy who leads a pack of stray children. After waltzing off on a day where everybody lives, the Doctor finds himself dealing with yet another troubled teenager as well as a conman Time Agent and a former shop girl who keeps bringing new boyfriends aboard.
1. What Should've Been a Near Miss

It was his 3rd year at Hogwarts. The war had been going on for a good two years, more on the wizarding side where it had started with small skirmishes before igniting across the continent dragging everyone along in its wake including the muggles. Hogwarts had seemed so safe, so impregnable throughout that time and he'd thought he was secure for the first time in his life.

He should've known that he'd never be safe or secure. He'd learned that lesson early on, back during the lean times when the orphanage had let them out as domestic help in order to get food and food money, being careful to send them away from London so potential donors wouldn't realize. He had seen the sea, but he'd also cleaned some toff's manor from top to bottom to back to top again while some bastard in his 20s who was obviously the owner's son made mess after mess after mess for him to clean up, laughing cruelly and calling him Mr. Riddle all the while. And, that was only when the bastard was being _nice_.

Hogwarts had seemed so safe. They had told him it was safe when he had come. Promised him it was safe year after year. The safest place in Great Britain they'd said. The sounds of battle, the screams of the dying and the shuddering of the castle walls which supposedly hadn't been breached in centuries put paid to that lie. The wards were holding so far, but the castle walls shuddered harder with every hit to them.

The entire school had been gathered into the Great Hall and teachers were doing constant head counts to make sure that none of the students had wandered off either to join the fighting or to flee on their own. Brooms could be seen flying across the night sky which was reflected on the ceiling. Every so often, the wards flashed as something was dropped on them, further weakening the wards with each flash.

"Send them home." Headmaster Dippet said, looking grim as he gazed up into the image of the night sky.

If what he was hearing from the guarded whispers amongst the professors was accurate, this attack had almost been prevented before it could even take place. A Sky Patrol border scout had seen them coming in off the North Sea and turned back in order to send a warning. He was hit by a stray hex before he could reach the ground and disapparate. By the time that he had regained consciousness, Grindlewald's broom fleet had coasted over the border and into Scotland on their way to Hogsmeade which was also under attack alongside the castle.

The anti-Portkey ward which had been raised over the school and the village had fallen and Grindlewald's forces were now attacking from both ground and sky with ward specialists working to take down the castle's defenses.

The school staff looked as grim as the headmaster as they led the students to the floo points around the castle. As he looked to his "friends", trying to find sanctuary away from London which he had been hearing was under constant attack by the muggle allies of the lot that were attacking, he realized that despite the fact that they were willing to believe he was of Slytherin's blood there would be no welcome for him in any of their homes. No matter where he went, there would be no safety or security for him, not with Grindlewald's forces on one side and Hitler's forces on the other.

There was never any safety or security for him anyways. He'd learned that when he'd basically been sold as slave labor in order to get funds for the orphanage when he was a small boy, and he'd learned it again at the end of June 1939 when he'd returned from his First year. He'd done his best to hide it from his schoolmates and his teachers who would just spread it around and cause him no end of ridicule, but there had been no return to the orphanage for him. At the end of each year, he had just enough money to stash his trunk and maybe get a little bit of food, but not enough to get a place to stay for the summer since his bed had long since been given over to someone else, and there wasn't enough room at Wool's orphanage for anyone to hang around for two months each year, especially not the likes of him who the orphanage staff had disliked practically from the day he was born.

This time, he wouldn't be sleeping rough in the Summer where there would be warmth at the very least if not food and shelter. No, it was January 10, and since he couldn't use magic, there was a very real chance that he could freeze to death if he didn't find somewhere to stay. He knew that that wouldn't be the Leaky Cauldron, because Tom who already had enough help thank you very much had told him that he wasn't running a charity once before.

All too soon, it was his turn to depart from the only home where he had ever felt anything approaching a sense of being at home. Watching the grim-faced Transfiguration professor who always kept an eagle eye on him and wouldn't let him slip away and hide in the castle which might yet fall, he noticed a sense of sadness and responsibility as if the man believed things were all his fault as he grabbed some floo powder and called out the name of the pub that was the gateway between the wizarding and muggle worlds. Though he wasn't feeling half as miserable as he tried to look, he gave Tom the barman who most-likely already knew what was happening a hopeful look.

The man gave him a shake of his head and said "I'm full up with paying customers, I don't have room for strays". That was par for the course though, wizards never had room for strays, especially not strays of questionable ancestry, even if such strays were usually able to charm people who weren't on their guard against them. He might get one or two things out of them if he worked at it, but houseroom wasn't one of them, not unless he offered certain services that he was tempted to offer if it would keep him from freezing to death.

He turned to give a sad smile to a likely looking individual.

"You, out!" the barman exclaimed. "I won't have one of your sort hanging around the place. Go to Knockturn where you belong!"

Giving it up as a bad job, he departed, but not for Knockturn. The streets of muggle London were far more familiar and far safer for him. Being January, it was freezing out and he had to remove his only warm clothing because it marked him as a wizard. Moments after leaving the Leaky Cauldron, he stood shivering in the street in worn second-hand clothing he had acquired in a storage room he had discovered the week before when he had been avoiding a couple of Gryffindor Sixth Years. Unlike born wizards, he didn't appreciate a healthy breeze around his privates, and the castle got damn cold, especially in the dungeons.

As he moved down the road, looking for a likely place to sleep a set of air raid sirens went off. He'd been told where the shelters were back during the summer, and he headed for the nearest one reflecting that thanks to the Germans he would be warm this evening. Terrified, possibly not even make it through the night if a bomb got too close, but warm.

As he walked down a road that was a few streets away from Charing Cross, he saw a group of ragged children making their way not towards a shelter, but into a home that had been vacated. Slightly curious and willing to grab some necessities and other items he might be able to sell since it couldn't exactly be pinned on him, he changed course and followed the children who were raiding the scant pantry when he'd made his way into the house.

"And, who might you be then?" a girl who was a couple years older than him with her hair bound in plaits asked, looking at him guardedly.

"I'm Tom." he said, doing his best to appear charming, since there was no point in making any unnecessary enemies who might make things difficult for him later on. While he'd ruled the roost at Wool's, that had been the result of years of effort and the same couldn't be said of the streets of the city where there were people older and stronger than him who'd been charmed by better, not all of whom were muggles.

"I'm Nancy." the girl replied.


	2. Follow me!

The ten days following the meeting with Nancy and her little gang of street urchins had been the ten most terrifying of his entire life. Since he knew it wasn't smart to go it alone during the winter, especially since Nancy was so generously offering other people's food and shelter and safety in numbers which would make it less likely for him to get caught if the authorities ever turned up, he'd done his best to restrain himself. Since the street children instinctively knew what he was and to be wary, and one of the bratlings whom he'd forced into silence was from Wool's and knew him by more than reputation, he'd turned the charm up extra-high so he wouldn't find himself reaching the appointed meeting place and finding that everyone else had abandoned him and gone somewhere else in order to get him out of their group.

The reason that those ten nights had been the most terrifying of his life hadn't merely been because of the German bombs which seemed to fall all the time, but instead of the creature that had been following the lot of them. The creature that you should never ever let touch you if you wanted to live. He'd seen firsthand what the creature that had looked like a child in a gas mask could do when one of the children had been a bit slow on his second night with the group, but had sensed it was unnatural the moment he'd laid eyes on it. The terror of Nancy and the other children was far too genuine, and it was catching.

The night of the twentieth had started like any other night, with the lot of them waking up in the latest of the abandoned or damaged houses they had taken shelter in. They'd had to adapt to a nocturnal routine because that was when the bombings were, and that was when they would best be able to get food or some nicknacks the ones amongst them who were more comfortable with stealing could fence. Nancy had been watching the house they were going to hit that night for days, and she seemed less uncomfortable with stealing from this lot, so it was likely that she wouldn't chide him as much over his little habit of walking off with anything portable and complain that he was going to bring the police down on their heads as she usually did. Nancy had pegged him for a thief on day one, and aside from laying down a few ground rules that she thought to be sensible, she generally let him have at it and only complained when the deed was done.

This night didn't turn out like the rest however. As well as another mouth to feed being added to the group, a mouth that had previously been evacuated from London only to return with the look of one who'd spent time living in the sort of hell that only other people could create, a complete stranger had turned up and turned things on their head. The man had slipped in unnoticed by everyone including him startling everyone badly, which was unusual because all of them had learned to be wary and constantly on guard. What made this even more unusual, was the fact that something about the man who had snuck up on them practically screamed "Look at me!".

The man practically seemed to exude power, which marked him as a wizard. Though part of him hoped that this man had come to bring him home where he belonged, he had never seen this man before either at Hogwarts or during his few trips to Hogsmeade. Wary, he dropped his hand to the wand he carried despite the fact that he couldn't use it if he wanted to return to Hogwarts should the school reopen. Having the wand was a comfort to him that reminded him that though he was currently in exile, he had a place to return to, and a place in society that was much higher than the one he currently occupied.

Before he could ask this strange wizard who obviously wasn't in the same circumstances what he was doing here, the gas mask creature turned up and he and the rest were forced to flee into the night, their first good hot meal in a long time left mostly uneaten. Ernie, Nancy's second in command due to the fact that he was the oldest of them besides Nancy led them back to the railyard where they had been sleeping the night before despite the fact that Nancy had told them to go somewhere different every night, proving once again that the group would completely fall apart without an effective leader such as Nancy or possibly himself. On the way, one of the brats picked up a typewriter out of a pile of junk that had once been part of the furnishings of a home before it had gotten bombed and lugged it all the way despite the fact that it was almost too heavy for him.

Eventually, after they'd all settled in, some opining that Nancy wouldn't be returning and others having faith in her, Nancy turned up with more food and the news that she was leaving because the gas mask creature that had pursued them night after night was actually after her, and that they'd be safe if she left. To prove this point, the typewriter that Jim had been messing around with started typing by itself. Willy turned to look at him in horror and disbelief, having seen him do something like this before back before he had been admitted to Hogwarts and informed that any bouts of "accidental" magic would be dealt with severely. This however wasn't his doing, and he'd indicated as much, causing the boy's eyes to go wide with terror.

He didn't entirely know what had possessed him to follow after Nancy aside from the possibility of learning her dark secret, which would be good to know if there was any power play for control of the group due to her departure. There was safety in numbers, and having a group of muggles at his beck and call until he returned to Hogwarts would be useful. He had no doubt that he'd be able to control them if it came down to it, even if he had to rule with terror. He had done it before at Wool's, eventually causing children three times his size to tread lightly around him lest he remind them why they shouldn't mess with him.

He was good at tailing people without being noticed, so he doubted that Nancy even realized that he'd tailed her to the railway station where this mysterious bomb he'd been hearing about was located. He realized his foolishness when Nancy was captured and things began going to hell, but before he could make a hasty retreat, the man from earlier turned up, the man who exuded power the way the most powerful of wizards who had magic to spare were wont to do, especially when they felt threatened.

Something about the man screamed "Look at me! Follow me! Trust me! Everything will be fine if you just trust me!". Rather than leave, he found himself shadowing the man and his companions despite the fact that it would be far safer to leave and put things behind him. What happened next was almost completely unbelievable, and would've been completely unbelievable if he hadn't been a wizard. When everything was at its bleakest, the strange wizard had pulled a miracle out of nowhere, speaking in near incomprehensible riddles all the while.

"Everybody lives!" the man exclaimed with such a great sense of joy that he couldn't help but feel it himself. "Everybody lives!"

And, if only for that moment, everybody had lived. The strange gas mask creatures that were a result of the plague caused by the one that Nancy had called Jamie and revealed was her brother and later her son turned back into humans in the golden light of a spell the likes of which he'd never seen before. A single powerful spell that had been cast without a wand despite the fact that such a wide-area transfiguration should've been impossible, and was according to everything he had read so far as he devoured the Hogwarts library searching for things he could use. Rather than being surrounded by a horde of shuffling monsters intent on turning him into one of them, destroying everything he was, he was now surrounded by a crowd of confused muggles.

In the midst of it all, the stranger stood tall, exuding an infectious sense of joy that he couldn't help but catch.

_Look at me, follow me, trust me and everything will be fine. _Though he knew that the promise was nothing but a lie, because nothing would be fine unless he made it so, he couldn't help but follow. It wasn't like he had anything else to do...


	3. It's Not Magic

The Doctor was in a good enough mood that he didn't say a word when he saw the street urchin slink into the TARDIS right behind Rose, blatantly stowing away aboard his TARDIS right in front of him, which was something that his usual stowaways generally had the decency not to do. He'd had a few stowaways over the years, even an accidental stowaway who'd become one of the handful of women he'd truly loved over his lifetimes. The kid who'd snuck aboard was no Sarah-Jane however. Of the teenagers he'd dealt with over the centuries, he'd had the boy pegged as being most like Turlough, though with few of the ginger boy's redeeming qualities.

Of course, Turlough hadn't actually been a teenager. He'd just looked enough like one that he had been able to attend a school full of them with little comment. The kid who'd slunk in behind Rose who hadn't closed the door fast enough to prevent him from doing so however was - developmentally speaking - about the same age as Adric, maybe a bit younger. One look had told him that the kid was far harder and more streetwise than Adric.

Deciding to shelve the problem for later because he didn't want his good mood to go down the toilet so soon, as he was sure it would do if he confronted the issue, he turned his attention to Rose who was asking about the Harkness fellow. Sighing, he set the TARDIS to following the conman who had taken the bomb that was supposed to destroy the Chula hospital ship out into space after he'd given him a case of conscience. Harkness had deserved it however, since it was his con that had caused the problem in the first place.

Who said a degree in alien psychology was completely useless? Oh, right, Borusa, his parents, his friends...

Eventually, Harkness was picked up and after he'd regained a piece of himself that he'd thought had died when he realized that he could dance again, the party ended and real life asserted itself. Part of the reality he was stuck dealing with was a pan-sexual former Time Agent who had the hots for both Rose and himself and a troubled teen who more than likely had the "troubled" part dialed up to eleven. Rose he had brought upon himself for whatever reason. The moment he saw her, something in his hearts had stirred with fear and excitement and something he didn't dare put a name to that felt suspiciously like hope and he found himself inviting her to come along with him.

The dancing had stopped when the events of the evening prior had caught up to Rose and exhaustion overtook her. After being awake for more than twenty-four hours and being active for most of that period, she decided to head into the back and to bed.

"Doctor, why is the door locked?" Rose asked when she found the way into the interior of the TARDIS barred.

"I didn't want the boy wandering around the TARDIS unsupervised." he replied. This had been more for the boy's safety than the TARDIS's, since he'd noticed that the boy had been too inquisitive for his own good. He didn't need someone else getting lost in the TARDIS corridors and becoming unreachable without hours or even days of effort.

"What boy?" Rose who hadn't noticed the human adolescent who was crouched in a corner all but invisible asked.

"There's a reason I keep telling you to close the door behind you Rose." he said, pointing to the highly psychic street urchin who'd given up all pretense of hiding since he'd realized he'd been noticed.

"What's he doing here?" Rose asked.

"That's what I'd like to know, considering the fact that the school that teaches that lot should've restarted more than two weeks ago, and I know for a fact that they teach street kids since I convinced Slytherin to put that clause in the Hogwarts charter. Caused any number of problems with Gryffindor who seemed to think that uneducated peasants couldn't be trusted though." he replied, remembering his brief visit to Hogwarts a long time back when he'd been young and curious and mildly fascinated by the "magical" world which had blended Carrionite and Logopolitan science in interesting new ways.

It was such a pity that they had to go and stagnate for such long stretches of time, such as now.

"What lot?" Rose asked. Usually, she was quicker than this, but every human had their stupid moments, especially when they encountered something outside their normal range of experience. That, and Rose was about dead on her feet.

"They currently call themselves witches and wizards." he replied. "They live in a separate society that is rather carefully hidden from the regular one."

"You mean he's one of the Programmers?" Harkness said, staring at the dark haired boy who'd stowed away on the TARDIS in astonishment.

"Wizards? Programmers?" Rose asked, looking confused. Admittedly, the situation would be confusing as heck for an ordinary person.

"Every human is psychic to a degree, some are far more psychic than others and rather than having the occasional true dream this lot are capable of psychokinesis, pyrokinesis and several other abilities along those lines. In what you consider to be modern times, most of these children are taken to one of several 'magical' schools around the world and educated in the use of their abilities as well as other things which vary school by school." he explained.

"But, why are they called Programmers?" Rose asked.

"Back before Atlantis simultaneously sank, blew up, and got eaten by a Chronovore - long story -, someone who'd been to Rexel 4 and Logopolis had introduced an art that had combined Carrionite word based science with Block Transfer equations which was spread around the world by a number of survivors. Those who were the most psychic were the most proficient at this art which can change the world. They're called or rather going to be called Programmers because they can essentially program reality to a degree." he replied, remembering his trip to Logopolis where he'd gone to get the entropy that was overtaking and aging his TARDIS reversed and the results of that trip. In the future, the Wizards were going to replace the Logopolitans whose world had long since been destroyed due to a miscalculation on the Master's part, and it would be they who preserved the universe through their science.

"Science?" the boy asked having followed the discussion and apparently found it fascinating.

"Yes, science." he replied. "Why do you think Spell Crafters use Arithmancy? Not that most of you lot do think about that. You just basically point and click, running the same programs over and over again thinking you're the be all and end all of everything because you've managed to save yourself a few minutes of effort doing something you could've done with your own two hands or got a bunch of pineapples to do ballet, nevermind the people who did all the hard work spending hundreds upon hundreds of hours determining the proper shortcuts to get the desired results without expending hundreds of hours of effort a second time."

"So, what I can do is just some sort of science?!" the boy said, sounding particularly upset by this.

"Yes." he replied. "Science and Psychic abilities."

"So, none of it is magic?" the boy asked, apparently stuck on that point.

"There's no such thing." he replied reasonably truthfully.

"But, but, all of this..." the boy sputtered.

"Dimensionally transcendental." he replied. "The inside's somewhere other than the outside."

The boy's expression grew thoughtful as he considered the information he'd received and then grew dark.

"Figures," the boy muttered darkly. "I willingly listen to a "Professor" and find myself in a fantasy adventure. It just figures that the day I willingly go off with a Doctor I find myself in the middle of some sort of Science Fiction serial. The so-called professionals that Mrs. Cole wanted to take me to are more insane than I am, or would be if I didn't follow along with them."


End file.
